Although it became a regional hit when it was released in Memphis, Tennessee, copyright issues prevented its further promotion and national chart success.
The Allman Brothers Band popularized it with their extended jam concert performances, as captured on At Fillmore East (1971).
Willie Cobbs, an Arkansas native, moved to Chicago in 1947, where he began exploring the burgeoning blues scene centered around Maxwell Street.
[3] Music journalist Rob Chapman calls "You Don't Love Me" "Willie Cobbs's 1961 adaptation and retitling of Bo Diddley's 1955 'She's Fine, She's Mine'.
[2] The owner of the Home of the Blues record company turned him down—"He said, 'It's a damn good song but you can't sing'", Cobbs recalled.
[7] According to Cobb and Boyd, Sammy Lawhorn, who later was a member of Muddy Waters' touring band, provided the distinctive guitar figure.
[6][3][7] A Vee-Jay discography lists Rico Collins on tenor saxophone, Wilbert Harris on drums, and Cobbs on bass.
[9] A review in Billboard magazine noted, "While this is a traditional blues in form, the unusual, almost exotic, arrangement with its hypnotic beat combined with Bo Diddley's anguished vocal takes this far out of the range of the ordinary".
[21] In 1965, the duo recorded the song as "You Don't Love Me Baby" for their influential album Hoodoo Man Blues.
[28] The song was recorded at Philips studio in London with a backing group named the Vibrations, who featured Billy Bremner on lead fuzz guitar.
[35] In 1968, Al Kooper with Stephen Stills recorded "You Don't Love Me" for the highly successful Super Session album.
[36] Later, Kooper explained in his autobiography: "[The Wells/Guy version] was usually done as a shuffle, but I found it lent itself well to a heavy-metal eighth-note feel.
"[21] AllMusic critic Lindsay Planer noted in an album review: "Updating the blues standard 'You Don't Love Me' allows Stills to sport some heavily distorted licks, which come off sounding like Jimi Hendrix.
[38] She was introduced to the song by producer Coxsone Dodd, who imported American rhythm and blues records to play for his sound system entertainment businesses.
[38] Penn's rendition inspired versions by Rihanna, who recorded it in 2005 with Vybz Kartel for Music of the Sun, and Beyoncé Knowles for the I Am... World Tour live CD/DVD in 2010 .